Editorial

New owner for Lucidity Float & Wellness Center

For two years, Angela McAllister sought refuge from her busy life in regular floatation sessions at Lucidity Float & Wellness Center.

“Imagine 90 minutes without your phone, with zero distractions, where you feel weightless, centered and relaxed,” McAllister says. “It was my place for calm and meditation when work was overwhelming.”

McAllister had spent her career working in sales and nonprofit fundraising – two high-pressure professions where she says performance goals can be suffocating at times.

Over time, she noticed that things were changing at Lucidity, and her source of peace and calm had developed some kinks that were negatively affecting the experience. McAllister called the owner, who told her he was struggling to juggle several businesses at once. “I offered to buy the center, and suddenly, I was a small business owner,” she says.

McAllister’s first order of business was to remodel the space. She cleared the clutter and added custom-made copper fixtures and artwork. In addition, the floatation tanks and chambers were given a thorough cleaning and tune-up to ensure they were operating at peak performance.

“While the equipment does require routine maintenance, the entire volume of water is emptied automatically after each floatation session and then cycled twice through four filtration methods,” she explains. Floatation tanks are also manually cleaned and sanitized after every guest.

The flotation tank water is the same temperature as the skin’s surface, and the high concentration of Epsom salt increases the water density and causes the body to float weightlessly. “There’s no light, no sound and no pressure,” McAllister adds.

While floatation tanks might seem like a “new age” practice, they have been used therapeutically for more than 60 years. Recent research by the Human Performance Laboratory at Sweden’s Karlstad University found that more than three-quarters of study participants experienced noticeable improvements in long-term conditions including anxiety, stress, depression and fibromyalgia after floatation therapy.

MRI scans conducted by Justin S. Feinstein of the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, documented the positive effects of floatation therapy on the central nervous system. Brazilian researchers found positive effects on relaxation, heart rate, blood pressure and flexibility after floatation therapy.